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2026 Maine Senate Race
Key developments
Anthropic signs $19B Kentucky data center lease
Connor Giffin of the Louisville Courier Journal reported that Anthropic signed a 20-year lease with TeraWulf for the Justified Data campus near Hawesville in Hancock County, Kentucky. TeraWulf said the lease is expected to generate about $19 billion in contracted revenue, support roughly 401 MW of critical IT load, bring initial capacity online in the second half of 2027 and fully ramp by early 2028. The site uses the former Century Aluminum smelter footprint, while local opposition includes a petition with more than 1,200 signatures.
Why it matters
The deal is a major AI infrastructure commitment and shows hyperscale demand moving to power-rich industrial sites despite local resistance.
Sources & driving stories
LOUISVILLE COURIER JOURNAL · Connor Giffin
Louisville Courier Journal coverageTERAWULF INC.
TeraWulf Inc. coverageQTS drops appeals, ending Digital Gateway campus
Data Center Knowledge reported that QTS withdrew appeals before the Virginia Supreme Court, effectively ending the proposed Digital Gateway data center campus in Prince William County, Virginia. The project had been pitched as a 2,139-acre technology corridor along Pageland Lane with nearly $30 billion in potential private investment and up to 27 million square feet of data center development. Courts had invalidated key December 2023 rezonings over procedural deficiencies before QTS filed its July 2 withdrawals.
Why it matters
The cancellation underscores that land, fiber and power access are no longer enough if entitlement risk, litigation and community opposition remain unresolved.
Sources & driving stories
DATA CENTER KNOWLEDGE
Data Center Knowledge coverageDuke seeks decade-long minimum bills for data centers
Canary Media reported that Duke Energy submitted testimony to the North Carolina Utilities Commission proposing a large-load tariff for major customers, explicitly including data centers. The tariff would require a minimum bill for at least 10 years regardless of actual electricity use and would replace confidential one-off service agreements. Duke raised its 2035 large-customer demand forecast in the Carolinas to 8 GW, up 2 GW from last year, and linked the forecast to 9.7 GW of planned gas additions over the next decade.
Why it matters
The proposal could shape how utilities allocate grid-expansion risk from data centers and whether other customers subsidize unused or delayed large-load capacity.
Sources & driving stories
CANARY MEDIA
Canary Media coverageWorth noting
WORTH NOTING
Maine veto lobbying emails surface
Bangor Daily News reported newly obtained Jay town emails showing developer Tony McDonald sought letters to give Gov. Janet Mills political “cover” for vetoing a statewide data center moratorium, while the Jay project later stalled after Sentinel halted work in June.
WORTH NOTING
Local moratorium wave reaches more towns
Hazle Township, Pennsylvania paused data center applications for 180 days, Lakeland, Florida held a hearing on a proposed pause after Project Swan pushback, and Indiantown officials asked attorneys to draft hyperscale data center rules.
WORTH NOTING
Texas rules may miss Batch Zero
Shelby Webb of E&E News by POLITICO reported that Gov. Greg Abbott wants tighter data center restrictions, but the Legislature may not return soon enough to affect ERCOT’s expected April approvals for Batch Zero grid connections.
Still unclear
OPEN QUESTION
Will large-load tariffs become the default?
Duke’s North Carolina proposal, Wisconsin’s approved 100% infrastructure-cost rule and Texas policy discussions all point toward utilities and regulators shifting more grid-expansion risk onto data center customers.
OPEN QUESTION
How bankable is community approval now?
QTS’s Digital Gateway exit, Maine’s failed moratorium fight and new local pauses in Florida and Pennsylvania show that entitlement and legitimacy risk can alter or kill large projects even amid strong AI demand.